Why ‘The Craft’ should be on your movie list this year.

As a younger child, I absolutely loved horror films. I couldn’t tell you why, as I’ve always been the jumpy kind, even being startled when someone walked in the room suddenly. As I grew older, though, I simply came to terms with the fact that horror wasn’t for me. I still liked movies with supernatural focuses, but stayed away from the full-on horror. Slashers, thriller and suspense, I wanted none of it.

Tacked onto that criteria, was my list of movies that I’d watch more than once; the rewatchability, if you will. This was and still is a very important category for me, making its way to the top of my checklist for a good movie. As you can probably guess, this makes the list very short.

‘The Craft’ however, has made it onto that list. Released May 3, 1996, ‘The Craft’ is a classic witchy horror film in which our protagonist Sarah transfers to an LA high school, where she finds that her telekinetic gift catches the attention of three wannabe witches, who also happen to be seeking out a fourth member for their rituals. The three girls, Bonnie, Rochelle, and Nancy are all similar to Sarah in that they each have troubled backgrounds, and when this is combined with their growing prowers, it leads to dangerous consequences, causing the girls to become mad with power.

While watching this movie, it’s easy to get a hit of the standard 90’s teen canon akin to Clueless, or Mean Girls, but it’s so much more than that. In 2016, it was even praised by the Huffington Post for setting itself apart from the clichés of the general teen movie genre by incorporating the dark themes that it did, making it a cult classic of its own merit. To some, it even became somewhat of a rite of passage for some young women.

This movie became a staple to me for those exact reasons: It was able to set itself apart at the time. Never before had I seen a movie like it, and the way it detailed the darker aspects stood out to me, as well as set a precedent for other movies like it. The extent to which each of the four girls went to change their lives without real regard to the consequences, to the point of killing classmates, grabbed me. The way some of them realized who’d they’d become, but then still gave in to the peer pressure personified who’s name was Nancy kept my attention. It momentarily highlighted a glamorous ideal in which teen girls had powers, and just wanted better for themselves, but spotted it with disturbing likelihoods that we’d scream at the screen for if we really thought it through.

One of the best (and most iconic, I’d say) components in my opinion, was Nancy. Oh, Nancy. At first, we just wanted good things for her. She came from an abusive home, and when her father passed (ahem), she and her mother finally got enough money to move out of the trailer. She was able to have some of the things she wanted, and had a shot to live closer to what she thought a normal teenager was. But then, she used a glamour spell to make herself look like Sarah to try to trick Chris into sleeping with her. Then when it doesn’t work, you really see how far she’s already started to spiral out of control. You finally see how out of hand this all has become. Everyone does, but they just don’t stop it. Or rather, they can’t.

That’s what makes this movie so great. It takes a seemingly normal concept, and twists it so much, you don't need anything else after it. Watching it is like starting out in a well-lit room, but then over the course of 101 minutes, someone is slowly dimming the lights until you’re left sitting in complete darkness. As someone who’s not that fond of jump scares and other standard horror elements, I appreciate that I’m still able to enjoy horror movies after coming across The Craft, and getting to know that there are more like it out there. That’s why I recommend it to everyone I know. It's also why I'll be giving the sequel a chance when it's released.